Sirius Saves The Day
by K. East
Summary: Besides, a kiss from Sirius Black isn't easy to come by." Lily becomes the victim of Sirius and James's latest scam.


Sirius Saves The Day

"_Bugger all!_"

"Whoa, Evans – just a little mouthy today, aren't we?"

Sirius looked down at one steaming, red-headed girl, who was currently ripping a rather large piece of paper to shreds. He'd happened upon her as he browsed the library for a certain – ahem – _restricted_ book, sitting between the shelves and holding a quill between her teeth.

She spat out the quill now and scowled at him. "D'you mind, Black? I'm trying to do something here."

He grinned. "What might that be?"

"None of your business."

Sirius sensed an opportunity. His grin slowly became wider, more dangerous. "It can't be homework, can it?" he asked slyly, crouching down beside her. It wasn't all comfortable, but her blushing face was enough. Yep. He still had it. "Lily Evans, nerd extraordinaire, putting off your homework until the last minute? An essay, even?" He reached out to touch the mutilated paper, and she slapped his hand away.

Hm. Intriguing.

"If you _must_ know, Black, _no_, it's not homework," she snapped. "Now wipe that silly grin off your face. What are you, nine?"

"Sixteen, close enough." He knelt beside her instead, his knees beginning to ache.

"No."

"Please?" He gave her the classic, soft smile that girls couldn't resist. She frowned yet turned even pinker. Score!

"Go away," Lily said weakly, but he was already one step ahead of her. He touched the back of his hand to her forehead without further ado and laughed.

She pushed him away. "What are you doing?"

He shrugged. "Just checking if you're ill. Because it seems like _you_ could easily walk out of her. It'd save you the time and trouble of trying to convince _me_ to go away."

Lily huffed and stood up, sticking the quill in her pocket. "Well," she said as he stood up, too, "I'll be doing _just_ that."

She tried to move past him. He smirked at her.

"Move."

"Say the magic word."

"Move, _please_."

Sirius made a great show of contemplating this and then shrugged apologetically. "Sorry. No can do."

Lily sighed and tapped her foot impatiently. "Seriously, I have places to be. What do you want?"

His eyes flickered to her chest. "Erm, I'll take either of two things."

"Argh! You sodding pig!" she pushed his shoulder and his eyes snapped up again, the hopeful look still on his face. "Fine! I'm writing a novel, you idiot!"

His eyebrows shot up into his hairline. _A novel?_ Interesting… "What about?" he asked, not bothering to hide his immediate interest. She crossed her arms and averted her eyes, mumbling something. "Sorry, can you repeat that?"

"I _said_, it's a romance novel," she said heatedly, trying again to shove past him. However, he was much taller and stronger than her, something he knew – and took glee in. "Sirius Black, so help me -"

"That doesn't say what it's _about_," he pressed, happy to torment her. With all the time he'd spent back here he was surprised James hadn't sent out a search party. After all, it was not every day Sirius Black went to the library.

Looking down at the rather flustered Lily, he decided he might make more of a habit of it.

"It isn't _about_ anything because I haven't _written_ it yet," she said matter-of-factly, holding up the mangled parchment in her left hand. "Everything I try to do turns out dumb."

"Writer's block?" Lily must've seen a certain glint in his eye, because she immediately backed away and shook her head.

"No way, Black, if you're think what I think you're thinking -"

It was really too late. When he'd made up his mind, he'd made up his mind. Their mouths were pressed together for the barest instant. As he pulled away, smoothing his hand over her hair, he thought:

_Vanilla_.

She wiped her mouth on her sleeve, now red as a tomato. "_Yuck,_" Lily complained. "Ugh. This is why I don't talk to you."

"Maybe now you'll be inspired," he insinuated, shrugging and grinning like an infatuated schoolboy. Lily rolled her eyes and shouldered past him. He leaned against the shelf with crossed arms and watched her go.

"Sirius?"

He turned.

Bugger.

James looked at him, wide-eyed, from across the aisle. "Tell me I'm seeing things. I'm seeing things, right?"

Sirius couldn't wipe the smile off his face. "No, mate," he said happily, fully aware he would get a pounding for this. "Just doing my civic duty. Ridding the world of writer's block and so on."

"Oh, James?"

They both turned in surprise to see Lily again, smiling sweetly. Her eyes flickered to Sirius briefly before she said, "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Sure," James said, gulping. Lily took him by the arm and they departed, leaving Sirius alone.

Bugger.

--

"Let's see – that'll be five Sickles for the black eye and five Sickles for the broken nose," James said matter-of-factly. Lily sighed and dropped a handful of coins in his open palm.

"You're having a field day, aren't you?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Oh, and ten Sickles for the kiss," James said, ignoring her question.

"_What_?" Lily gaped. "I'm not paying you for the _kiss_, idiot, I'm paying you for the retaliation!"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Watching that was pretty damn traumatizing, you know."

She scowled and snatched the money from James's hand. "I'll give you a Galleon, and call it good," she said flatly.

Another shrug. James accepted the Galleon and pocketed it. He grinned naughtily. "Besides, a kiss from Sirius Black isn't easy to come by."

She stared.

"Oi," said Sirius as he approached. He was holding a hand to his swollen eye and watching the transaction with interest. "I get half, right?"

"As always, mate."

Lily exploded. "_Bugger all!_"

END

* * *

**Author's Note:** I have terrible writer's block. Forgive me - I've been trying and trying to finish a single piece and this is all I could do. But it's kinda cute, right? Right? (I wish Sirius could inspire ME... sigh.)


End file.
